Gambling

Gambling [+ favourites]

Fifty years old, been gambling for most of his life, any body got any ideas how to stop it. Any body been through it, and recovered. I say it like it is such an easy thing, thirty odd years of pain crambed in a sentance.

"I have nothing to be proud of today but hopefully tomorrow I will."

You use the word "recovered" as if gambling is a disease. It is not a disease and as long as your friend or relative thinks it's a disease, the more he's gonna feel helpless to fix his bad habits and/or lack of discipline. Gambling isn't cancer. It can be controlled. Believe it or not, millions (possibly even billions) of people manage to fight the urge to gamble away all of their assets on a game of cards or dice every single day.

If the person you know realizes this already and still continues to fall prey to his "disease" then he is hopeless and nothing in the world will be able to save him.

"I try my best to be just like I am but everybody wants you to be just like them."

Ignore those that do not take the time to think.

Gambling is an emotional addiction, and is the result of self-loathing. Winning a pot is the easiest and most socially motivated method of giving yourself a high with which to escape this self-loathing.

Therefore, address the self-loathing and recognize that gambling is the "fix", and you then have the choice to rid yourself of it just like any other addiction (which is very difficult).

"Hating everyone protects me from elitism."

I agree with Decius 100% here, if the person does not try to control their own life. Or does have the want to control their life that is there decision. Anything that is not physically determined I have no sympathy for. It is all in the head and can be controlled by the individual. They keep doing it over and over.....let them.

"My mind is tearing me apart, then it constructively puts me back together again."

Stupid gambling meetings keep telling him that some people will never recover because of hormonal inbalance. He always explains it a mental kind of illness. Weve explained all these things but.. does not work.

"I have nothing to be proud of today but hopefully tomorrow I will."

stubbornness like this, to me, can only be treated in one way - for sure...


let the man hit rock bottom. let him see for his self what gambling has done to him. idk why it should take something so serious for some people to learn. But they never understand what they really had until it's all gone. After he has hit bottom and realized the problem for himself, he can start from the very bottom and attempt to work his way back up with a very hard learned lesson that he will never want to put himself and/or others close to him through that again.

"I'm a human being, God Dammit!! My life has value!!!"

I think, no i know he has hit rock bottom a couple of times, i mean we've talked to him, and explained things, had huge fights over this, he just cant seem to give it up.

"I have nothing to be proud of today but hopefully tomorrow I will."